Sclavus
/ˈsklaː.wus/noun
A Medieval Latin term meaning “slave,” originally derived from the ethnonym for a Slavic person.
Did you know?The semantic shift from “Slav” to “slave” reflects the large number of Slavic captives trafficked into servitude in medieval Europe, especially through Byzantine and Islamic markets.
Etymological Timeline
Late Antiquity
Proto-Slavic
*Slověninъ
“A Slavic person; the original ethnonym, whose deeper derivation remains debated”
6th Century
Greek
Σκλάβος (Sklábos)
“A Slav; a Greek form of the Slavic ethnonym”
7th–9th Centuries
Byzantine Greek
Σκλαβηνός (Sklabēnós)
“Slavic; relating to the Slavic peoples”
10th Century
Medieval Latin
sclavus
“A Slav, and increasingly a slave or enslaved person”
12th Century
Old French
esclave
“An enslaved person; derived from Medieval Latin sclavus”
13th Century
Middle English
sclave
“A slave or bondservant”
Modern English
English
slave
“A person held in forced servitude; historically descended through Old French and Middle English”